I always thought mileage was an overrated stat. Once you're on the plane, you're on the plane. None of the Atlantic teams are gonna have a ton of mileage, except maybe Pittsburgh. Flyers, Islanders, Rangers, and Devils are all within a 2 hour DRIVE of one another. Pretty much every road game Vancouver goes on takes that long on a plane.

Henrique at that X, and I think it'll be fine. The names aren't scary but they can still get the job done. Butler has a similar skill set to Sykora, that 3rd line has shown chemistry before, and Kovy does Kovy.

I think you'll see Bernier getting a good amount of 3rd line time though when Janssen or Barch play.

I always thought mileage was an overrated stat. Once you're on the plane, you're on the plane. None of the Atlantic teams are gonna have a ton of mileage, except maybe Pittsburgh. Flyers, Islanders, Rangers, and Devils are all within a 2 hour DRIVE of one another. Pretty much every road game Vancouver goes on takes that long on a plane.

Yeah but going on a plane isn't the same as just throwing a bag on a bus and driving. You have to go through customs, passports for international travel, etc...and on both ends. It still takes longer and is more of a hassle even when it isn't actually longer. Plus you don't have to book hotels as much and have that hassle when you just go on a bus as opposed to driving.

Looking at today's practice lines, and taking into account that it was without several players who will be in on opening night, it makes absolutely no sense why Barch was brought in, which we pretty much knew from the start

Unless somebody is banged up and needs a night off or we need some toughness in the lineup, Barch may not even see a dozen games